Project S O U L
by Aquamarine Shadows
Summary: Despair, regret, darkness. All of these things lead to the creation of Hollow. 300,000 years ago the Council of Elders created project SOUL to keep the balance between good and evil. Little did they know what evil could become of SOUL. "What if" two-shot.
1. The Beginning

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach.

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In this world there is good and evil. In the beginning, neither of these concepts existed. There was only the Earth and its creators, the Precursors. After the creation of humanity and their emotions, problems arose on Earth. Darkness and despair collected in the hearts of people. Those who gave into their grave feelings were consumed, thus creating the first wave of Hollow known to mankind.

The domain of the Precursors is divided into two regions: Zara Joukai, the common land, and Shou Joukai, home of the Precursors' Council of Elders. The land as a whole is known as Kouten. The Council of Elders decide the punishment given to corrupt Precursors or the circumstances under which a Precursor is allowed into the Council of Elders. The original council consisted of the five eldest precursors in Kouten, which are in turn the ancestors of four (formerly five) noble families of present-day Soul Society.

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Previous to the formation of the first Hollow, there was a great disruption in Kouten. The Council of Elders' newest member, Elder Izanami, tried to introduce concepts unheard of to the Precursors inhabiting Zara Joukai. Izanami spoke of a quest for bigger power, the advantages of darkness, and the uselessness of human beings. With the Zara Joukai being larger in population, she could gather more supporters of her dark ideologies. The day came when Izanami gathered a large enough group of followers to attempt a takeover of the Shou Jokai. The rebellion failed due to the great difference in strength between the elders and the common Precursors. As punishment, the Council created a special domain to imprison Izanami and her followers in. The dark and shadowy hell in which Izanami currently resides is known as Yomi.

Though the Council's actions were intended as a punishment, Izanami found satisfaction in Yomi. She was free to embrace her concept of darkness, and--unlike in Kouten--she was unbounded by the rules of the Council. Yomi was not a hell, but rather a dream come true. Izanami's first use of her dark powers was, as expected, tested on the humans she loathed so much. She knew that the Council of Elders were proud of their creations and would be deeply affected if they did wrong. By taking a select few people and filling their hearts with emotions such as fury and sadness, she was able to infect most of humanity with her evil ideologies. These emotions spread from one person to another, and in some, they grew far too big for their hearts to handle. Some were thrown into despair, never to come back again. It was during this time that the first Hollow were formed.

The Precursors were shocked at the evil spreading rapidly among the humans. They were at a loss as to how they would contain the spread of Izanami's evil. They already had the job of keeping the galaxy in perfect working order. Controlling the outbreak of Hollow was too much. The result was the creation of the first Shinigami, the world's regulators of the traffic between the world of the living and the afterlife. The creation of Shinigami was nicknamed project SOUL. It was intended to cleanse those taken over by darkness and allowing to have a proper transition to the afterlife. Before the time of Shinigami, the dead were taken to Kouten and made into Precursors. After the start of the chaos created by Izanami, the Council of Elders created Chuuten, the next step after life commonly known as Soul Society. They gave the Shinigami minimal powers to keep them from growing more powerful than the Precursors themselves. The Shinigami began to restore peace to Earth, minimizing Izanami's control of mankind.

As I have previously implied, after the creation of Soul Society, souls were sent there rather than to Kouten. When a spiritual being in Soul Society passes on, it can be sent to one of two locations: Yomi or Kouten. Those with a pure, refined soul are easily accepted into Kouten and given a place as a Precursor. Those burdened by sin are put through a test to determine their loyalty to Kouten. The souls which fail the test are sent to Yomi to rot indefinitely, and those that pass are accepted into Kouten. Since the souls are not completely immortal like Izanami and other Precursors, they may suffer through great torture in the shadowy lands. Such is the reason for the creation of Hollow and Shinigami.

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A/N: Any religious views implied in the above are meant solely for fictional purposes and not an impression of my religious beliefs on my readers. A lot of the story is pure fiction mixed with Japanese mythology with a "Paradise Lost" approach, meant only as a basis for the history of Soul Society. Aizen will not appear until the next chapter, which is also the last installment of this short "what if" ficlet. I hope it wasn't too confusing. I tried explaining it carefully. Let me know what you think. =)

Happy reading,

~Kai


	2. The Creation of a Villain

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach.

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Let us skip ahead in time to about 150 years before the present. The Shinigami have developed a law enforcement system known as the Gotei Thirteen, composed of thirteen divisions of Shinigami soldiers specializing in different areas. The Gotei Thirteen also includes a kidou corps, kidou being a basic form of combat consisting of "demon arts." The influence that the Precursors have on Soul Society has slowly diminished to almost nothing. The Soul Society has shown capability to create order by not only setting up the Gotei Thirteen, but also creating a special dimension for its king. The Precursors accepted the fact that the Shinigami no longer need their assistance in keeping order, so they let them break free from Kouten to keep order between the worlds while the Precursors kept the galaxy in order. Even some of the oldest Shinigami barely remembered the time of the Precursors.

Although the Precursors broke away from the Soul Society, the Council of Elders still kept some influence on the souls in Rukongai, the district outside of the one reserved for members of the Gotei Thirteen. The original five Elders had long since passed on. One might ask oneself, "If Kouten is the highest order a soul can reach, then what becomes of those who pass away in Kouten?" A simple answer to this question would be that the Precursor's body evaporates, and the reishii (spirit particles) they are composed of goes back into the environment. However, this is not the case. The spirits of the original Elders were passed on to the five purest souls in Rukongai. These souls were given title of nobility and family names deriving from each of the Elders' names. Since a soul does not remember its past life after transfer to Soul Society, these five souls and their adopted families easily accepted their new role. The families created included the Kuchiki, the Shihouin, and the Shiba.

As for when a normal Precursor passes on, its spirit is sent back to Earth in the form of a newborn child. This is a continuous cycle and has yet to be broken by outside forces. Since Izanami's attempt to infect humanity with evil and the creation of the Shinigami, the outbreak of Hollow became less severe and rare in most parts of the world. Formation of Hollow could not be completely prevented as long as humans had free will and the right to a mind of their own. Some of the most trouble individuals were turned into the most severe Hollow after their passing. Some went undetected; others were purified by the Shinigami. In order to fill the hole where the heart would be, the Hollow devoured innocent souls that had yet to pass on to the afterlife. They became stronger and continued to evolve, but the emptiness was never fulfilled--as is the reason for the hole in the body of a Hollow, for the lack of a heart. These Hollow ate more and more souls, but they could not be satisfied. The stronger ones grew to the size of Menos Grande. The more souls they ate, the stronger they grew. This is how the first Menos Grande, the Gillian, were able to change into Adjuchas and later, Vasto Lordes.

After the outbreak of Gillian on Earth, the Shinigami realized that they could not cleanse every Hollow. The Gillian was much stronger than the average Shinigami, and at best, a captain (at that time) could barely hold one off. The head council of decision making in Seireitei, known as Central 46, decided upon creating another domain to contain the Hollow. The result was Hueco Mundo, the land of darkness composed entirely of reishii. In reflection of the Hollow themselves, it is always night in Hueco Mundo. Even though the land was created to limit the Hollow's devouring of souls on Earth, some were able to return to Earth, and other newly created ones were left to be taken care of by the Shinigami stationed in different districts across the land.

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Back in the depths of Yomi, Izanagi still harbored ill feelings toward the Precursors and the Shinigami. Many times she had tried to entice the Soul Society into crossing over to the dark side, but each time she failed. That is, she failed until she found the perfect candidate for creating chaos in the lives of the Shinigami, as well as the Precursors.

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115 years before the present

Aizen Sousuke: first year student of the Shinigami Academy. This child prodigy harbors intense amounts of spirit energy for his age. After half a year at the academy, it was approved that he would graduate with the current class of sixth year students due to his mastery in kidou, swordsmanship, and excellent ability to strategize. He had already mastered his zanpakuto's shikai and was on the verge of achieving bankai. A seat in the Gotei Thirteen had been reserved for the young phenomenon as vice-captain of the fifth division under Hirako Shinji. He was the perfect role model, one of Soul Society's biggest assets. Aizen was the perfect target, and Izanami saw promise in him to carry out her will.

The day before his graduation, Aizen sat alone on a riverbank alongside an orchard of cherry blossom trees. The young fellow spent most of his days wandering around the Shinigami Academy's hallways or killing time under the cherry blossoms. He was truly bored by the challenges set for him by the Gotei Thirteen. What was it all for? He asked himself this question daily. There was no fun in life. Sure he liked being one of the most admired people at the academy, but that was all he was. He was respected, but no one would approach him. His peers feared his power. That was when Izanami noticed the Sousuke's dull attitude, the lack of motivation to do, well, anything.

She came to him in the form of beautiful, young girl with long, black hair and an enchanting smile.

"Aizen Sousuke, why do you sit here by yourself?" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Aizen looked at her as if he were seeing things. Someone other than his superiors actually talked to him?

"Why wouldn't I be?" he chuckled bitterly. "No one wants to be around a freak like me." Izanami frowned at his attitude.

"Don't say such things," she said. "You are destined for great things, Sousuke-kun. These Shinigami mean nothing compared to you. They are neither worthy of your presence nor the honor to be ranked officers. You can become much greater, Sousuke-kun. You can show the Shinigami their inferiority." Izanami held her hand out to Aizen as she slyly earned his respect.

It was then that Aizen first thought of becoming a great ruler. With Izanami's help, he would be able to build a kingdom far better than Soul Society. It was something only he could do. In exchange for becoming her lover, Izanami would grant him a reiatsu concentration higher than that of a captain. She would teach him how to pick out those useful to him and earn their trust. Aizen gladly accepted her offer, knowing that being her lover was only a step to a greater power.

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Five years later

"Aizen! Since when..." Captain Love Aikawa of the seventh division growled as he clutched his head in agony. The hollowfication process had already begun. It was too late for Love or any of his companions to go back now. Aizen's own captain as well as the some of head officers of the third, seventh, and ninth divisions and the vice-captain of the kidou corps had fallen into his trap. He had rid of the biggest obstacles in his conquest for power.

"Since always, Aikawa-taichou," he said smugly. "Just because you were my colleague, you assumed that you knew me. It would be wise not to make such assumptions in the future. Place your trust in the wrong person, and you will fail."

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One hundred ten years after Aizen's first betrayal of Soul Society, which was only known to a select few, the Soul Society came under great turmoil again. The invasion of the Ryoka known as Kurosaki Ichigo left the Seireitei in ruins and lowered their defenses. It was all going according to Aizen's plan. As far as he was concerned, nothing could stop him--not even the Precursors of Kouten. He was invincible.

Never once had it occurred to the Precursors that such a force could be created among the Shinigami with the dark powers of Izanami. It was almost too late when they discovered of the chaos forced upon the worlds. They would have to clean up the mess that had been born from their own kind.

//End//

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I didn't go much into detail of Aizen's power, but this is how I think he started out. I actually wrote this two-shot as a mirror story to the ending of my Bleach fic, Breaking Through the Storm. Much of the credit goes to my dad for thinking up the concept of "how Aizen got his powers," although most of the detail I created. To clear up some questions: Yes, the Precursors were inspired by the game, Jak and Daxter. (except in this story they aren't ottsels, but instead monk-like people in light robes) I might write more, but this ficlet was only meant to be two chapters. The turnout of Aizen accepting Izanami's power will be in the last chapters of Breaking Through the Storm, as this ficlet was meant to elaborate on that part of the story. If I think of something else to write on Project S O U L, I'll post it. =) Thanks for the reviews!

Happy reading,

~Kai


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